Actor

1 series in the catalog

Adam Barrington Spencer (born 29 January 1969) is an Australian comedian, media personality and former radio presenter. He first came to fame when he won his round of the comedic talent search Raw Comedy in 1996. Soon thereafter, he began working at Triple J, on mid-dawn and drive shifts before hosting the Triple J Breakfast Show with Wil Anderson. He later hosted Breakfast on 702 ABC Sydney.

He is a patron of science-related events and programs, including the University of Sydney's Sleek Geeks Science Prize (category in the Eureka Prize). He collaborated with Karl Kruszelnicki for the long-running Sleek Geek Week tour (as part of National Science Week). He hosts events and panels, writes mathematical recreation books, and performs his own comedy at events around the country.

He is a supporter of the Australian rules football team, the Sydney Swans, and was declared their number one ticket holder for the 2016 season.

Early life

Born on 29 January 1969, in Sydney, Spencer grew up in the Hunters Hill/Gladesville area.

A few hours after birth, he had a seizure, and doctors found blood between his brain and scalp. Twice in the first two days of his life, a priest was called to give the last rites. Between the ages of three until about 11, Spencer underwent a series of operations by eye surgeon Fred Hollows. The deadening of the eyelid muscle led to permanent ptosis (drooping of the upper eyelid) and noticeable facial asymmetry. He later received a transplant from a donor (who had been in a motorcycle accident) in an operation, allowing him to "open" that eye.

His father Larry, died from prostate cancer in 2004. He has a brother and a sister.

Spencer attended Boronia Park Public School, where his favourite teacher, Ms Russell, encouraged his love of mathematics when he was in second grade, in 1976. In 1981 he won a scholarship to attend St Aloysius' College in Sydney, and was a vice-captain of the College and Captain of the Australian Schools Debating Team. He graduated with a score of 200 out of 200 in four-unit maths.

His earliest job was selling newspapers, and during university worked as a dishwasher at a pancake restaurant. He was a member of Scouts Australia.

Spencer was the first in his family to attend university, and originally enrolled to study arts-law. This included economics and philosophy, but he dropped out of those, taking up maths to "round it out", but eventually changed to a maths major. He graduated from the University of Sydney with a Bachelor of Science with first class honours in pure mathematics in 1991, residing at St Paul's College during his time there. While at university, he was one of the world's top-ranked debaters, reaching the final round of the World Universities Debating Championship three times (1990, 1992, 1996) and winning World's Best Individual Speaker (1996). He won the Australasian debating championship twice (1988, 1990). He was President of the University of Sydney Union.

Career

He was secretly entered into the Triple J Raw Comedy Championship in 1996 by a former girlfriend, and won the NSW championship (although this has also been reported as winning the second prize, as he came second in the national competition).

Television

Spencer has been a host of ABC science shows Quantum, FAQ and Sleek Geeks. He was a regular guest on the O'Loghlin variety comedy show since its first episode in June 1999.

In October 2001, he hosted the Visions for a Nation Federation Forum. This focused on the views of leading Australians about the challenges facing Australia in the 21st century. It later screened on the ABC.

In August 2002, he made a guest appearance on Cheez TV (Channel Ten), playing a burglar with an aversion to old Wham! songs.

Radio

Spencer was spotted by radio station Triple J's senior broadcaster, Helen Razer, at the 1996 Raw Comedy Finals, when he provided a live impromptu weather segment involving mathematical equations. This approach to presenting maths via the weather has been noted by other mathematicians.

He was invited to do occasional work at Triple J, and then hosted segments during the midnight-to-dawn shifts. He did guest spots entitled "Bloking up" on Razer and Judith Lucy's Ladies Lounge afternoon show. When Lucy left Triple J for Melbourne's FOX-FM, he joined as co-host of the Departure Lounge. Helen Razer left in 1998. In 1999, Spencer was later promoted to solo hosting of the breakfast show for approximately 18 months.

Wil Anderson joined Triple J in April 1999, beginning their co-hosting of the breakfast show. The highest-number of mathematical references made by Spencer on an episode the show was 32 instances on 7 March 2001. In 2002, Anderson and Spencer created a fictional metal band, Salmon Hater, with a single 6.66 – One Hundredth of the Number of the Beast. It was rated as number 26 in Triple J's Hottest 100.

Both Anderson and Spencer chose to retire from the breakfast show in 2004. They hosted a comedic tribute show, The Last Time, which toured around Australia and focused on their six years in co-hosting the show. The tribute show's title was a mocking take on John Farnham's farewell tour, which was not actually his last tour.

On 20 February 2006, he began presenting Breakfast on 702 ABC Sydney, replacing Angela Catterns. His hosting was described as having transformed ABC 702 into a "...science and maths, women's sports and soft rock loving place to be..." On 6 December 2013, Spencer hosted his last breakfast radio program for ABC 702, concluding 14 years of radio broadcasting at the age of 44. His farewell live show included Alex Lloyd performing a rewritten version of his song Amazing. For his final radio survey, Spencer was ranked second in the breakfast slot. He was replaced on ABC 702 by fellow Triple J alumni, Robbie Buck.

Spencer hosted the Smile High Club radio show programme on Qantas Airlines radio channel, Q, circa 2010.

Presentations and hosting

Spencer has hosted science-related events and held guest spots at a wide range of festivals and conferences, and has been described as "the Eddie McGuire of edgy cultural events."

Spencer was interviewed about issues affecting teens, for George Negus' New Dimensions' special screenings during Youth Week in 2003.

He went through Channel 7's Wheel of Fortune's formal audition process in April 2004. He then played on the show in June 2004. He became a carry-over champion and won a telescope.

For several years, Spencer has hosted both the Eureka awards and the Prime Minister's Prizes for Science award ceremonies. The Eureka awards have included a sponsored namesake award: the online Adam Spencer/University of Sydney Eureka Schools Prize for Lateral Thinking. The namesake award was issued in 2003 and 2004.

Spencer has presented televised coverage of Tropfest for a number of years, including 2006 and 2013.

He interviewed Breaking Bad scriptwriter Vince Gilligan during the Sydney Writers' Festival in 2014.

Books

Spencer has written several mathematical recreation books.

Articles

In August 2002, Spencer provided commentary in an ABC online article about the interpretation of the AKS algorithm.

Compilation CD trilogy

The ABC published a trilogy of compilation CDs of Adam Spencer's breakfast music. The CD series was issued under the Mytunes series name (distinct from the MyTunes program used to circumvent iTunes restrictions). They included Mytunes (2011), Mytunes 2 (2012) and Mytunes 3 (2013).

Guest book chapters

Spencer was interviewed about how to have a safe and happy sex life, for Julie McCrossin's book, Love, Lust and Latex (2000).

He was interviewed for a chapter on prelabour in Lucy Perry's book, Cheers to childbirth: a dad's guide to childbirth support (2010)

Television episode

Spencer and producer Jo Chichester were interviewed for episode nine of ABC's television series Artzone in 1999.

Personal life

Spencer was prompted to lose 25 kilograms in 2000, at the behest of his…